The 5th World Social Forum scheduled for Jan. 26-31 in the southern Brazilian city of Port Alegre is expected to focus on anti-globalization and anti-poverty issues, the organizers said Monday.

About 75,000 people have signed up for the forum, and the whole number is expected to exceed 100,000, said the organizers.

Issues of anti-globalization and anti-poverty will top the agenda, and about 2,000 workshops will highlight 11 topics such as the communication of anti-globalization practices and the defense of diversity and sovereign economies against neo-liberalism.

The forum will also call for aid to developing countries and debt relief for poor nations.

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Cultural Minister Gilberto Gil are scheduled to attend the forum, while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero may also attend.

About 5,000 journalists are expected to cover the event.

With "Another World is Possible" as the slogan and initiated by the Brazilian Labor Party, the annual forum opposes free market-controlled globalization and its negative consequences.

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2005)